Monday, September 6, 2010

#53 - Ivorian Companion

Dear Friends and Family, Sept. 6, 2010

I'm not sure I have too much to talk about this week. It passed rather quickly. Elder Ho. was transferred, like I said, and my new companion is from the Ivory Coast. His name is Elder Da., and he's pretty awesome. I was worried about having had only obruny companions the last 9 months, and suddenly having a native one, but I've enjoyed it. Elder Ho. and I were synced up on everything, and it's been a bit of a speed-bump not having that, but Elder Da. is very humble, and quick to adjust to me. :) I'm working on moving his way a little bit, and we've hit a nice rhythm now. Our focus is especially on being bold, which isn't so much opening our mouths for us, but simplifying the doctrines to the point of a 2 minute, single-point wallop that will help people understand why we are coming to them. It's helped a lot, even in the little time we've been here together. He's a workhorse, too. We had two half-days this week, what with transfers and ZL Council, but we still managed to power out 32 lessons. We also set a ton of dates and are staring down the barrel of an awesome next two months.

I had to give instruction at Zone Leaders Council. They gave me 2 hours notice, but it still went well. I'm amazed at how subtle revelation really is. These last two months, everything on which President decides to instruct has been revealed to us as a weakness two weeks earlier. I'd already been working on how to teach my zone members what the problems we were facing and how to handle them, and suddenly, it's the topic for my ZLC instruction. Poor Elder Da., after being a ZL for just one day, had to instruct too!

Roughly half our zone is training, so we have a lot of fresh faces. Elder Co. (Texas) and Elder Ha. (Washington) are our new obrunies, and Elder Wi. (I think South Africa) and Elder Ki. (Uganda). I saw Elder Co. on his first Sunday... I was never like that, I'm sure. Poor little greeny. He has no idea... hahaha. Anyway, one district is all training, so we are keeping an eye on all of them. So far, so good.

We've been working with some wonderful people. I know that President really receives inspiration on where to send people, because out of nowhere, a bunch of French speakers showed up. Hello Ivorian companion! Plus, I'm surprised by how much I remember and understand between their body language and their French. Apparently, my accent is impeccable. But seriously, they are awesome. Samuel, for example, can't believe how simple the Gospel really is. He was in shock when we told him he could ask God what really was going on. He was even suspicious, but when he prayed, we asked him, "So... how do you feel about the Book of Mormon?" Samuel:"Well..." "If someone asked you what it was, you'd say??" Samuel: "God's word" "See how easy that was?" "... Zut Alors!" And then one sister was really reluctant to listen to us teach anything more then generic Bible study. "You go pray and ask God if He wants you to listen to us." A day later, we received a call. "Elders, can you come?" Us:"Well, we're busy right now so..." Her:"Please, just anytime you are free, I'll make time." Awesome!

We are also working on helping the ward realize the importance of teaching their children. The Book of Mormon is full of references to the duties of parents for their children We found how far we have to go when the 2nd counselor said he had a 10 year old he wants us to baptize.

Oh! At transfers, I received some unexpected letters. I heard from Marie and NATE STOUT! Also, I received that letter about making a box oven. I am working on where to find tinfoil. Probably ShopRite. What will I ever do without ShopRite?

Also, lots of my friends are having birthdays. September is a fairly big month, so it seems. I'd love to write and say "Happy Birthday!" but I don't know where to send it. Just a little FYI for anyone with a September birthday. :P